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Briefs: Information Technology
An automated system to assist a General Aviation (GA) pilot in improving situational awareness of weather in flight is now undergoing development. This development is prompted by the observation...
Briefs: Information Technology
The Aviation Safety Monitoring and Modeling (ASMM) Project of NASA’s Aviation Safety program is cultivating sources of data and developing automated computer hardware and software to facilitate...
Briefs: Materials
A process for fabricating thermoelectric modules with vacuum gaps separating the thermoelectric legs has been conceived, and the feasibility of some essential parts of the process has...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The cryospheric advanced sensor (CAS) is a developmental airborne (and, potentially, spaceborne) radar based instrumentation system for measuring and mapping the thickness of sea ice. A...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Measuring Attitude of a Large, Flexible, Orbiting Structure
A document summarizes a proposed metrology subsystem for precisely measuring the attitude of a large and flexible structure in space.
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A proposed remote-sensing instrument, to be carried aboard a spacecraft in orbit around the Earth, would gather data on the spatial distribution and radiative characteristics of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Multimode-Guided-Wave Ultrasonic Scanning of Materials
Two documents discuss a method of characterizing advanced composite materials by use of multimode-guided ultrasonic waves. The method at an earlier stage of development was described in “High-Performance Scanning Acousto-Ultrasonic System” (LEW-17601-1), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 30, No. 3...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The device illustrated in Figure 1 is designed primarily for use as a regenerative heat exchanger in a miniature Stirling engine or Stirling-cycle heat pump. A regenerative heat exchanger (sometimes...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Accelerometers used for shock and vibration measurement in extreme environments require special consideration in the design and manufacturing process. Certain...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A three-stage monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) W-band amplifier has been constructed and tested in a continuing effort to develop amplifiers as well as oscillators, frequency...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A proposed improved method of externally controlled time multiplexing of the readouts of focal plane arrays of pairs of stacked quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) that...
Briefs: Software
Implementing Access to Data Distributed on Many Processors
A reference architecture is defined for an object-oriented implementation of domains, arrays, and distributions written in the programming language Chapel.
Briefs: Software
2D/3D Visual Tracker for Rover Mast
A visual-tracker computer program controls an articulated mast on a Mars rover to keep a designated feature (a target) in view while the rover drives toward the target, avoiding obstacles.
Several prior visual tracker programs have been tested on rover platforms; most require very small and well-estimated motion...
Briefs: Software
Measurement and Controls Data Acquisition System
Measurement and Controls Data Acquisition System (MCDAS) is an application program that integrates the functions of two stand-alone programs: one for acquisition of data, the other for controls.
Briefs: Software
Adding Hierarchical Objects to Relational Database General-Purpose XML-Based Information Managements
NETMARK is a flexible, high-throughput software system for managing, storing, and rapid searching of unstructured and semi-structured documents. NETMARK transforms such documents from their original highly complex, constantly changing, heterogeneous...
Briefs: Medical
The multipurpose, multiaxial, isokinetic dynamometer (MMID) is a computer-controlled system of exercise machinery that can serve as a means for quantitatively assessing a subject’s...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Simplified Optics and Controls for Laser Communications
A document discusses an architecture of a spaceborne laser communication system that provides for a simplified control subsystem that stabilizes the line of sight in a desired direction. Heretofore, a typical design for a spaceborne laser communication system has called for a high-bandwidth...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A method of coherent detection of high-rate pulse-position modulation (PPM) on a received laser beam has been conceived as a means of reducing the deleterious effects of noise and atmospheric...
Briefs: Medical
Implantable Wireless MEMS Sensors for Medical Uses
Sensors designed and fabricated according to the principles of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are being developed for several medical applications in outer space and on Earth.The designs of these sensors are based on a core design family of pressure sensors, small enough to fit into the eye...
Briefs: Medical
Dehydrating and Sterilizing Wastes Using Supercritical CO2
A relatively low-temperature process for dehydrating and sterilizing biohazardous wastes in an enclosed life-support system exploits (1) the superior mass-transport properties of supercritical fluids in general and (2) the demonstrated sterilizing property of supercritical CO2 in...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Networks of video cameras, meteorological sensors, and ancillary electronic equipment are under development in collaboration among NASA Ames Research Center, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The development and evaluation of new hybrid and solid rocket motors requires accurate characterization of the propellant surface regression as a function of key operational parameters. These...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Optoelectronic sensors of a proposed type would perform the functions of both electronic cameras and triangulation- type laser range finders. That is to say, these sensors would both (1) generate ordinary video or...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Miniature Housings for Electronics With Standard Interfaces
A family of general-purpose miniature housings has been designed to contain diverse sensors, actuators, and drive circuits plus associated digital electronic readout and control circuits. Each housing fits within an envelope having dimensions of about 2-1.4 by 1-3.4 by 1.2 in. (about 5.7...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
In a proposed digital signal-processing technique, a radio receiver would control the phasing of a phased-array antenna to aim the peaks of the antenna radiation pattern toward desired...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Resonant edge-slot (slotted-waveguide) array antennas can now be designed very accurately following a modern computational approach like that followed for some other microwave components. This...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An ultrasonic rock-abrasion tool (URAT) was developed using the same principle of ultrasonic/sonic actuation as that of the tools described in two prior NASA Tech Briefs articles:...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Controllable active struts that would function as linear actuators with variable spring stiffness and damping have been proposed as components of advanced suspension systems of future...
Briefs: Materials
Experiments have shown the stability enhancement of polymeric sensing films on mixing the polymer with colloidal filler particles (submicron-sized) of carbon black, silver, titanium...
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Webcasts
Upcoming Webinars: AR/AI
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